Kelly Thompson’s final issue of captain marvel dropping this week, drawing the curtain on the slate of titles that we can group together as the 2018-2019 fresh start relaunch, aka the first breath of the C.B.Cebulski EIC era of Marvel Comics.

I wanna look at the whole of the Fresh Start lineup; see what worked, what didn’t and why. What C.B. did different compared to Alonso and Quesada, and what he didn’t.

Now, a couple points. First, we’re still sort of in Fresh Start, as there hasn’t been any new relaunches since. I’m focusing on the first line up as it’s over and done with, and therefore easiest to access and most indicative of “the times”. (Also it’s pre-Covid, and thus we have sales numbers).

Second, where do we draw the line of what is Fresh Start and what isn’t? It’s tricky. I’ll say that anything that isn’t a yet ongoing story is fair play. Alonso-era titles that have carried over into 2018/2019 are off the table.

Here are the topics that I want to comment on in this thread, over time: (I got stuff to do, okay!)
*The OGs back in the saddle
*Old heads back at the table
*90s, baybe
*Everything is X
*Women writers climbing up the ranks
*LGBTQ+ inclusivity
*Marvel Unlimited-ification

And, of course, the Quality of titles and the line's general identity. And the reason that I want to do it here and not in my diary is that I want to hear from y'all: what Fresh Start titles you read, what you thought of them then and now. Sound off!

As for the titles I read, and what I thought of them...i made a helpful table. Feel free to copy and paste.

top class
Immortal Hulk
Thor(Aaron\Del Mundo)
Krakoan X-Men
Venom(Cates\Stegman)
Cosmic Ghost Rider
Black Widow (Thompson\Casagrande)
Daredevil (Zdarsky\Chechetto)
Silver Surfer: Black
Spider-Man: Life Story
Black Cat (Mackay\Foreman)
Moon Knight (MacKay\Cappuccio)
Eternals (Gillen\Ribic)

good
Tony Stark: Iron Man (Slott\Schiti)
Black Panther (Coates)
Fantastic Four (Slott\Pichelli)
Daughters of the Dragon: Deep Cuts
Jessica Jones: Blind Spot
Captain Marvel (Thompson)
Miles Morales (Ahmed\Garron)
GOTG (Ewing\Cabal)
Valkyrie: Jane Foster
Strange Academy
Shang-Chi

mid
Captain America(Coates\Yu)
Ms. Marvel (Ahmed\Jung)
Thor (Cates\Klein)

bad
Amazing Spider-Man(Spencer\Ottley)
Avengers (Aaron\McGuiness)

bleh
Uncanny X-Men(Rosenberg\Larocca)
Spider-Man by JJ Abrams

Unrated, but relevant to the point I want to make
Sword Master*
X-Men Legends*
Death of the Inhumans*
Marvel's Voices*
Peach Momoko's Demon Days*
Ravencroft*

more coming soon!